UP reaches safety milestone

Union Pacific employees capped a decade of safety improvement in 2011 by achieving a 1.15 reportable injury rate, the best performance on record in the company's history.

Employees surpassed their previous best of rate 1.37, established in 2010, by 16.5 percent. From 2002-2011, UP employees improved their reportable injury rate by 52 percent.

"Our Total Safety Culture initiative and identifying and standardizing best practices are important factors in our safety performance improvement," said Bob Grimaila, Union Pacific vice president safety, security and environment. "Employees participating in Total Safety Culture combine teamwork and best practices as we strive to achieve our ultimate goal of zero incidents or injuries."